FA Cup: Iheanacho, Ndidi seek to join Amokachi, Kanu, others

Nigerian Fans Divided, Match live On Supersports

History beacons on Super Eagles’ duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi today as they seek to join the legion of Nigerian players who have won the English FA Cup when Leicester City clash with Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium, London.

Nigerian players, including Daniel Amokachi, Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, John Obi Mikel, John Utaka, Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi have won the FA Cup in their playing career in England.

Amokachi was the first Super Eagles player to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995 as they dispatched Manchester United in the final. Nwankwo Kanu remains the only Nigerian player to have won the FA Cup with two separate teams, with Arsenal, when he came off the bench in victory over Chelsea in 2002, and later with Portsmouth—alongside Utaka as they defeated Cardiff City.

Celestine Babayaro ensured that Nigerian fans took interest in the West London heavyweights, Chelsea, when he clinched the FA Cup in 2000 alongside George Weah, beating Aston Villa in the final.

Mikel Obi clinched the FA Cup three times during his decade at Stamford Bridge.

The highlight of John Utaka’s four-year spell in English football with Portsmouth was their FA Cup success in 2008, just as Alex Iwobi was part of Arsenal side that defeated Chelsea in the 2017 FA Cup final.

A year later, Victor Moses was part of Chelsea team that dispatched Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
Today’s FA Cup will pitch Iheanacho and Ndidi’s Leicester City against Chelsea, who are also in the final of the UEFA Champions League.

This match will air live on SuperSport Football (GOtv Channel 31) from 5:15pm. Chelsea and Leicester have met in 118 matches across all competitions since the first clash back in 1905.

Speaking ahead the FA Cup final, Chief Customer Officer, Martin Mabutho said: “The FA Cup is the world’s oldest knockout football competition and we are glad to bring the live action from the final match to our GOtv Max and Jolli customers at no extra cost.”

Chelsea, eight-time winners of the FA Cup (most recently in 2018), will come into this clash with both the historical pedigree and the status as favourites, given the excellence they have shown across all competitions under manager, Thomas Tuchel.

On its part, Leicester have reached the FA Cup final for the first time in more than half a century and will be hoping to win the competition for the first time ever.